After Gretchen and Ethan built an addition to their home in Burlington, Vermont, they knew that they would be over the town’s required lot coverage, which factors in paved driveways as coverage. The easy solution was to rip out their paved driveway and replace it with an environmentally friendly d… Read More →

Butterfly Bush Nanho Blue

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Shipping begins in late March based on ground temperatures, warmest zones first.
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This butterfly-magnet blooms a brilliant shade of blue, making it a must-have for any Buddleia-lover. Plant on its own or pair with a white or pink variety for a butterfly and hummingbird oasis! (Buddleia davidii)

Plant Information

Many gardeners plant several butterfly bushes together, so they grow into a shrub-like clump with blooms in all the colors planted--say, purple, pink and white, or perhaps pink, blue and white. Its up to you.

Butterfly Bush is a shrub-like plant that looks sort of like a compact lilac, grows quickly and blooms in mid-summer. But the name tells you all about it: Butterflies just cant resist the flowers, and flock to the plants when they're in bloom.

The Magic: How the Butterfly Bush works: Buddleia or Butterfly Bush has been a sensation in American gardens for years, and no wonder. This plant is easy to grow, blooms profusely, and has that magical quality: Butterflies cant resist it.

Here's why: Its not just the pretty flowers that attract the butterflies, like any bright flower. Buddleias emit a special honey-scented fragrance that lures butterflies like a moth to a light, and then once there, they find the flowers super-rich in nectar.

A butterfly bush in the garden will often be seen with a mass of butterflies on the flowers, especially during hot sunny afternoons. Buddleias attract other insects too, like moths, and the reddish ones strongly attract hummingbirds. So its more than a name; its actually a botanical phenomenon.

SKU

21SHRUB

Common Name

Butterfly Bush

Botanical Name

Buddleia davidii

Zones

5, 6, 7, 8

Light Requirements

Full Sun

Flower Color

Purple

Mature Height

60-72" tall

Estimated Mature Spread

60-72" wide

Bloom Time

Early to late summer

Planting Depth

Crown of plant should rest just at or above the soil surface after watering in.

Planting & Care

Planting Instructions for Butterfly Bushes:

Open the box immediately, protect from cold, and water each potted plant. Some of your butterfly bush plants may have new green growth and some may not. If you see no leaves, don't worry; this is normal. The roots in the pot are healthy and ready to grow in your garden.

Plant as soon as you can. If your weather cooperates (above freezing), begin planting as soon as possible. If not, keep your butterfly bushes where they get some sun through a window, and keep them moist, not soggy.

As you set out your potted butterfly bushes, dig to loosen the soil around and below the actual spot, and then set the rooted plant at the same level if was growing in the pot.

When you remove the plant from the pot, do not pull on the leaves or stems. Squeeze the pot a little and the roots and soil will slide out for you.

Water well after planting, and continue to water at least every two weeks, depending on rainfall.

All About Butterfly Bushes

Butterfly Bush is easy and quick to grow

Butterfly bushes are popular and hardy from Zone 5 south to Zone 9. In the colder zones, they die to the ground each year like a perennial plants, but in more southern regions, they are somewhat evergreen. In the warmer states, butterfly bushes often grow to 10 or 12 ft. high, and require pruning to keep them shapely. They're happy in almost any soil and prefer moist ground, but will also do well in dryer spots. They need plenty of sun, but will be fine with some shade in the warmer areas. All this tells you that this plant is a tough one, and should be easy to grow in your garden. A well-grown specimen can be a magnificent "fountain" of flowers, since the stems with heavy flower clusters tend to arch in all directions.

The colors and named varieties.

You'll find pink, white, blue, and some very beautiful new bi-colors. Buddleia "Bicolor" created a sensation when it burst on the scene. It is one of the first with bi-colored blooms, often developing long clusters that range from bluish to raspberry to bright orange as you look from the tip to the base of the flower spike.

Some botanists think the basic white butterfly bush has the most potent lure for insects. That's "White Profusion" with it's very heavy flower heads shown on the right.

A butterfly bush with pink, blue and white flowers on the same plant? Hmmm.

If you've ever heard about this magical butterfly bush, I think I know why. During the 1990's a very well know perennial nursery, which shall remain nameless, began selling "a butterfly bush with three colors on the same plant." The offer was such a successful bonanza for them, they repeated it over and over in ad after ad. And hundreds of thousands of gardeners bought. Well, what they got was really three small seedlings of three different plants grouped into one pot—one white, one blue and one pink. It all worked well, since butterfly bushes grow so easily and quickly, it really did look like one leafy bush as it grew. But once the "bush" was up and blooming with all the colors, if you looked closely near the ground, you'd see three little trunks, not just one. The effect was definitely one handsome bush with blooms in all three colors, but it was simply three different bushes planted very close together.

New butterfly bushes to come?

The genus Buddleia (or Buddleja to be correct) is a group of several wild species that are cultivated and hybridized for the plants we enjoy. Most are from China, but some have been imported from South America as well. The most popular is B. davidii, which was brought into England's Kew Gardens in the 1880's, and is the parent of all the well-known butterfly bushes. However, according to "The Butterfly Website", some naturalists are still seeking out unknown species of Buddleia on the slopes of the Himalayas.

Don't confuse the butterfly bush with butterfly weed.

Some people mistakenly call another famous butterfly attracting plant "butterfly bush", but that's incorrect. "Butterfly weed" is the common name of our famous flame-orange milkweed native wildflower, Asclepias tuberosa. Learn more about butterfly weed »

Shipping

Shipping begins in late March based on ground temperatures, warmest zones first.

As soon as your order is placed you will receive an order confirmation email that will include your shipping information. We ship perennials and spring-planted bulbs at the proper planting time for your hardiness zone. Perennials and spring-planted bulb orders will arrive separately from seeds. If your order requires more than one shipment, there is no additional shipping charge. See our shipping information page for approximate ship dates and more detailed information. If you need express shipping or have any questions, please call Customer Service toll-free at (877) 309-7333 or contact us by email.

You will receive a second email the day your order ships telling you how it has been sent. Your order is scheduled to arrive at your door, fresh and ready to plant, usually within 3-5 days of leaving our warehouse, depending on your shipping address. We pack our plants to withstand up to 10 days in transit, in the event transit is delayed. We cannot guarantee arrival on a specific day.
Please make sure to open your package upon receipt and follow the instructions included.

Shipping Rates

Our shipping rates are calculated based on our actual average shipping costs. We do not seek to profit from shipping fees, so rest assured that our shipping rates reflect an average of what it costs to get our guaranteed products safely to your door.

US Shipping Charges

Merchandise

ShippingCharges

Up to $9.99

$6.95

$10 to $19.99

$7.95

$20 to $29.99

$8.95

$30 to $39.99

$9.95

$40 to $59.99

$11.95

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$12.95

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$13.95

Over $100

$16.95

Canadian Shipping Charges

Merchandise

ShippingCharges

Up to $24.99

$14.95

$25 to $49.99

$19.95

$50 to $74.99

$24.95

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$29.95

Over $100

$39.95

We charge one low flat rate for shipping our products even if your order requires multiple shipments. If you have any questions, would like to purchase expedited shipping, or have quetions about shipping to Alaska or Hawaii, please call us at (877) 309-7333.

The butterfly bushes you shipped were bare root. I don't know if it was the hot Texas summer or what, the plants didn't grow. Even the free replacements you were so kind to send failed to grow. If this bush or any other butterfly bush come rooted in a small pot, maybe that would have a better chance of developing in the hot Texas climate.